That time I found out I was going to be a mum… OHSS

My daughters' birthday has got me thinking about the first time I found out I was going to be a mum.

As traumatic as it was, I feel blessed every day to be the mother of our twins.

In March 2011, I was in a hospital bed, pumped full of morphine, and my “baby doctor” said to me, “You know why you are so sick; you are pregnant.”

I was on my second round of IVF, had done the embryo transfer and was feeling hopeful.

One of the side effects that you can get from ovulation stimulation drugs is ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS). It was one of those side effects that doctors had to warn you about, but you never really thought would happen to you.

OHSS is a little complicated to understand but, put simply, because of all the hormones being pumped into your body, the cells get holes in them which let fluids out into your body (which isn't meant to happen), so your tissues end up filling with fluid and the fluid can't pass through you.

OHSS can be mild and correct itself. For me, it started out mild when I went to emergency, but got progressively worse. If you become pregnant during a treatment cycle, OHSS may worsen.

It started with a feeling that I had done a million sit-ups in every direction and I then couldn’t walk without being in pain with every step. When I arrived at emergency the first time, they put me on a drip and gave me morphine, but I freaked out and made my husband take me home. The pain was excruciating the next night, so back to emergency I went and, after the doctors insisted, I was admitted.

I got progressively worse over a couple of days and, within four days, had gained 10kg due to fluid buildup in my body. To put this in perspective, “severe OHSS” is categorised as rapid weight gain of more than 1kg in 24 hours. Clearly, I surpassed that.

I was in extreme pain and so swollen that I looked like a completely different person.

I was given protein through an IV, morphine, and anti-nausea medication (because I couldn't stop vomiting). Eventually, the doctors inserted a tube into my stomach to help drain some of the fluid out. All up, I had over 6 litres of fluid drained from my body.

Eventually your body fixes itself, but they can't tell you how quickly this will happen. After the fluid started to drain, I started to drop weight and other things were indicating that I was on the mend. They took the tube out and stopped the IV, but I went home with a bag attached to me as fluid was still leaking out of my stomach.

Recently, I asked my husband what it was like for him, as we don’t really talk about it. He said it was so traumatising that he has blocked it out, something he doesn’t want to remember.

He said, “It was very scary. You were not in a good way and I felt helpless. There was nothing I could do to comfort you as your whole body was sore. You were full of fluid. You finally got some relief when they started to drain you. It was the turning point that helped you feel better.”

I was in hospital for a week. I didn’t want visitors, but I remember one of my best friends, who never cries, coming to visit in tears.

My mum said, “I knew that you desperately wanted a child, but my daughter was going through so much pain, and seeing what you had to endure to achieve that was very painful for me.”

The pregnancy itself wasn't straightforward either.

Throughout my pregnancy, I was iron-deficient and also had Obstetric Cholestasis, a liver condition that stops or slows normal bile flow, causing bile acids to build up in your bloodstream.

True to my form of taking on too much, while I was pregnant, I also did a firm merger, completed my practice management course (the course required to be a Partner in Australia), became a Partner and planned a wedding.

My girls were delivered via emergency C-section at 34.5 weeks. When I was still getting wheeled in a wheelchair down to see them on day five because I was in too much pain, I insisted there was an issue. Five days later, I also had a second surgery due to complications with my C-section. My doctor never told me what the issue was.

The twins then spent three weeks in special care. And that well, is a whole other story.

Was it worth it all?

Absolutely.

Every appointment, every injection, every surgery, every tear and every hard day.

Hands down, without a doubt.

Motherhood x x